Heart Failure
by MikeB73
Summary: Just a school assignment I had to do.


DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters expressed in this story and all the work is purely fictional.

Heart Failure

Captain Planet soared out of the water grinning, with a small submarine in his hands. He gracefully dropped it on the shoreline, then landed beside it and peered at the hatch. Smoke billowed out as the hatch came off and a small pudgy man crawled out. His clothes were charred, and he was covered in soot, as if he had just crawled out of a fire.

"Your pollution days are over, Lieutenant Barracuda," shouted Captain Planet. "You're bound to a lifetime of trash duty in prison!" Lt. Barracuda would not go without a fight, however.

"I would rather die than go to prison, and I'll take you all with me!" replied Lt. Barracuda as he pulled out a grenade. He threw one at the Planeteers and Captain Planet and pulled out a rifle. With a crazed look in his face, he sprinted towards them with the gun pointed at them. Linka, thinking fast, used the power of Wind to blow the incoming grenade far away, where nobody would be hurt. Wheeler used his Fire ring to heat up the gun, melting the barrel shut and forcing Barracuda to drop it or burn his hands. Kwame caused the ground beneath the crazed Lieutenant to shake violently, knocking Barracuda off his feet. By now, the submarine was covered in flames, threatening them all with a large explosion if the flames weren't extinguished. Ma-ti used the power of Heart to speak to nearby whales.

"They'll splash water onto the submarine to put out the flames," he called. Before the whales could arrive, however, Gi summoned a powerful wave to wash over the submarine and put out the flames. Ma-ti dropped his head in disappointment.

Later on that day, after Lt. Barracuda had been sent off to prison, the Planeteers were hanging out at a local diner. "Nice wave, Gi," commented Kwame while eating a fried chicken wing.

"Thanks. That was some handy burning you did, Wheeler," said Gi. They all congratulated each other on their good jobs… all except Ma-ti.

"You know what? I'm sick of this! I never get to participate. Ooh, I get to tell rats to bite people. That's not exciting at all. You guys get all these awesome powers and I'm stuck chatting with Suchi the monkey. I'm leaving. Take your stupid ring, too. Come on Suchi," yelled Ma-ti. The other four Planeteers all held blank faces as Ma-ti stormed towards the door.

"Wait… there was five of us?" asked Linka.

"Er… I guess so. I don't remember that guy doing anything. Oh well, you can have that ring, Linka," said Wheeler. Just as Ma-ti was opening the door, Gi whistled and Suchi jumped off Ma-ti's shoulder and ran back to the others, and they carried on with their celebration dinner. Ma-ti drifted off into the rainy night, tears streaming down his face.

_What is there for me to do now? I'm just a depressed little Indian boy who was basically kicked out of his super hero club, _Ma-ti thought. The ex-Planeteer meandered down the street, contemplating the meaning of his life. As he was walking, he heard what sounded like a dog whining. Peering down the alleyway, he saw a miserable looking pit-bull with blood on his leg. Ma-ti ran towards it, whispering comforting words to the injured dog. "You'll be okay. I'll bring you to a veterinary and you'll be fixed up in no time." As he reached over to touch the dog, it snapped and bit him in the arm. Flailing wildly and screaming like a girl, Ma-ti ran down the alley, crying harder than ever before. _Even the animals hate me now. How could my life get any worse?_

While heading to the hospital to have his bite wound fixed up, he walked by an angry looking homeless man with one leg. As their eyes met, a look of maddened recognition took over the man's face. "You… you had a rabbit bite me after witnessing me toss a fast food wrapper on the ground. The rabbit carried a rare disease which infected my leg. They had to amputate it… I was a dancer, one of the best out there. Remember the Macarena? I made that up. After losing my leg, I couldn't dance. My wife dumped me for a rich man and took the kids. I lost my house, unable to find any suitable job. You destroyed my life, you little punk. I'll make you pay!" shouted the man as he picked up a plank of wood. The bum threw the wood, hitting Ma-ti clear in the face. Ma-ti was knocked down instantly, and the homeless man started brutally stomping on the ex-Planeteer. If it wasn't for a nearby Good Samaritan, the beating probably would've been fatal. After the bum was subdued, Ma-ti thanked his savior and limped away towards the badly needed hospital.

Upon finally reaching the hospital, Ma-ti hobbled up to the help desk. "Suicide prevention, dear?" whispered the desk employee before Ma-ti could even say anything.

"That's a good idea…" replied the worn ex-Planeteer. The desk employee's further comments fell on deaf ears as Ma-ti staggered past towards the elevator. The door opened and he joined a large man with a bloody bandage on his head.

"You heading to suicide prevention? You don't look so good," he said, one hand gingerly holding his injured head.

Ma-ti couldn't help but smile as he said, "Not much that could prevent me now." They both got off at the top floor and Ma-ti headed to the stairwell. Then he was there, on the roof, hundreds of feet above the abusive city. Peering over the edge, he was about to jump when suddenly Captain Planet landed next to him.

"You don't need to do this Ma-ti. The world needs you. You were the defender of the animals. You were their champion. Without you they will be lost. The Planeteers need you," shouted Captain Planet over the wind. Ma-ti looked understanding and even took a step back.

"That's why Suchi ditched me, right?" he asked, and then cast himself over the edge.


End file.
